Masteries

Ferocity:
12

Cunning:
18

Resolve:
0

Threats to Annie with this build

This is one of your best matchups honestly. I always pick Annie if the other team picks a Yasuo. His windwall can't stop you ult and you can poke the hell out of him in lane. Use your long auto-attack range to pop his flo shield and then keep using Q-W-AA combos to wear him down before going all in with your ult post-6. Be sure you always have a way to get your stun up if he has his tornado up because the second he ults you, you should ult him back and try to burst him down as fast as you can.

2

Karma

This is generally a very easy matchup as you have much more reliable damage and way better burst. She will struggle to farm efficiently until she gets an item or two and you can bully her really hard in lane. Her damage is completely reliant on hitting her Q but if you stand behind minions, you won't get hurt much at all. Just be careful that if she suddenly tries to go super aggressive and uses her bind, you're probably about to be ganked so keep that in mind.

3

Ezreal

You don't see many AP Ezreal mids anymore but they exist and they're not tough to beat, especially early. You can stun him and fight him through the minion wave but a lot of his damage is reliant on him hitting skillshots, one of which can be blocked by minions. You should look to all in right at level 6 if he's a half HP or lower and look to snowball from there.

3

Karthus

Your early game is so much better than his and if you get early boots and luden's as your second item, you'll be golden. You should be able to dodge his Q's pretty easily as long as you're paying attention. He does double damage if he hits only you with his Q so be mindful of that but otherwise, look to bully him and burst him down whenever possible. He has no mobility so call for a gank and abuse it.

4

Ahri

Ahri is an interesting matchup because you can theoretically shit on her in lane but if you position wrong or eat one to many Orbs to the face, she can jump on you and blow you up if she hits charm. If you stay behind your minions and engage once she misses charm, you should have no problem bursting her down and bullying her when you get a lead. She normally builds very squishy so just keep an eye on her in teamfights and be ready for her to ult in and try to kill you immediately.

4

Cho'Gath

This matchup isn't too hard if you can dodge his Q. My biggest tip is that a good Cho'Gath will try to lead you with his rupture so when you see the animation, immediately walk back towards him to avoid the knock-up (unless of course you're at very low health). He is melee so you can poke him quite a bit but you probably won't kill him in lane (especially once he gets an item or two) because of his sustain. Just farm and call for a gank if you fall behind.

4

Ekko

This can either be a cake walk or hell, depending on how well your early game goes and how well you avoid his shield stun thing. His big damage comes from if you stand in both hits of his Q so if you dodge that in lane, he has little to poke you with and you can poke the hell out of him because he is melee. Post-6 he is annoying because of his ult to save his life and avoid a kill for you but if you can keep an eye on him in teamfights you're fine.

4

Katarina

Not a hard matchup, especially early game. She will only engage once she tags you with a Q so if you're ready with a stun to stop her ult, you win. Try to trade aggressively and look for an all-in when she is at half health. You have to kill her fast though because as soon as your stun wears off, she will jump away.

5

Akali

This matchup is very easy pre-6 and very hard post-6. You can bully the heck out of Akali early and can try to get a big lead early but once she hits level 6 be careful because she can surprise you with her damage. Never fight her 1v1 if you are at half or below half health because she can jump and stick to you like glue till you're dead. Just win the early game and look to impact other lanes when you can and get out of laning phase whenever you can after you have 2-3 items.

5

Anivia

Another matchup that you can feast on pre-6 but gets more difficult post-6. Her damage really lacks until she completes her two, slow items but she can still pack a punch if she hits her stun. You should focus on farming perfectly until you both hit 6 and then look to fight as soon as possible. She is one of the best farmers in the game with her ult but it will run her out of mana early so look to fight whenever her Q is down.

5

Annie

Skill Matchup, whoever gets the ult-stun off first wins in most cases.

5

Heimerdinger

Oh the Donger. I hate this champion, I think he is bad for league and should be removed but whatever. He will probably out-farm you because of his turrets but if you can kill them quickly, you can prevent him from putting up the nest and go for kills with jungle help. Just avoid his stun and watch out for his upgraded turret if you all-in him. You are way better at teamfights because he can basically cast two spells and then wait whereas you can completely 100-0 someone in 2 seconds.

6

Azir

You have relatively short range for a mage so he can place his soldiers in spots that can hit you multiple times. You will take a lot of damage in this matchup but you can burst him in ways that he can't do back to you. His damage comes over time whereas yours is nearly instantaneous so if you can poke him down to about half health or so, you should go for an aggressive engage and go for kills like that. Try to target him early in teamfights because his damage potential is crazy if he is able to put up multiple soldiers.

6

Cassiopeia

She has great poke with her Q and will make you pay for getting hit by it with her Twin Fang spam but she is very squishy and immobile so your all in is stronger. Be wary of her ult but if she misses, you can go full ape shit and destroy her. Her poke is fantastic but so is your burst so play to your strengths and dodge the Q's as best you can.

6

Corki

This is a classic early vs. late game matchup. He has great damage early and mid game but falls off pretty hard into the late game. His mixed damage is a pain but if you can dodge his Q and then stay out of range of his machine gun you can beat him 1v1. He will try to poke a lot in lane and is very good at farming but if you can get a lead and a gank for an early kill, you can snowball WAY harder than he can.

7

Fizz

This is annoying but winnable. His all-in at level 6 is huge but you can poke the hell out of him early. The main problem comes in that a really good Fizz can dodge almost everything you can do. He can dodge the Q stun and W and even ult if he times it right but if you use your Q and he uses his E to dodge it, you won't lose your stun so then you can zone him a bit. Just farm, call for ganks, and get to teamfights where you thrive.

7

Kassadin

He is literally the Anti-mage so of course you'll have a hard time with him, especially later in the game. He is very mobile post-6 but he is melee so try to bully and harass early game and do your best to get an early lead. He will try to roam a lot so ping MIA whenever he leaves lane because he's probably heading off to gank.

7

Kayle

This can be tough if she predicts your ult and uses hers. She is a pain to deal with late game and will mitigate your burst if she sees you go for it. Try to win lane early and abuse her whenever her long range is on cooldown.

8

Diana

This is hard, put simply. Pre-6 you have an advantage because her damage isn't super high yet and she doesn't have her gap-closer till she gets her ult. Since she is melee you really need to poke with Q-W-AA harass and hope that she sticks around when she's low so you can try to burst her. If you can dodge her Q you can mitigate a lot of her damage and you generally have a better teamfight, especially if you can ult-stun her or teh adc.

8

Galio

This is hard for the simple fact that he counters any AP champion. He will stack magic resistance all game and become a huge magic tank who can still deal tons of damage so you need to try to abuse his weak early game and get a farm/kill lead so you can get some early magic penetration. Watch out for his flash ult because he can delete you and render you unable to help your team with your ult-stun.

9

Brand

This can be a very tough matchup depending on how good the Brand player actually is. A good Brand will poke the hell out of you with his Pillar of Flame and then if you can't burst him right away in a fight, he will use his full combo on you and you'll be helpless to his damage. You can farm easier early and have a better all-in so if you can get him to half health early, go for an aggressive all-in and try to kill him. Be careful when diving him however as he can stun you and completely turn around a 1v1 or 2v1.

Introduction

Annie

Just a little about myself, I'm a member of team GP who mainly plays mid and support with my mains being Annie, Brand and Ahri. I have been playing since the end of season 4 and have enjoyed a lot of success this season so far in ranked.

Anyways, Annie is a fantastic champ who I have had arguably the most success on in my short career (except for maybe Ahri). She has crazy burst potential and great utility on any team. She is often played as a support as well but I really prefer her mid because of her damage potential. There is no better feeling in my opinion than landing the perfect Tibbers stun and 100-0ing your opponent in a matter of seconds. It seems like no one is ever ready for the damage that Annie brings to a team and even if you get behind early, people just forget about you and pay for it later.

This guide will teach you how to play Annie in almost every matchup, how to itemize correctly, and how to use your combos to poke, all in, and win teamfights as well as in lane. I have put a ton of work into this guide so I hope you enjoy!

Pros / Cons

ProsAmazing BurstGreat at Farming and Sustain in LaneGame-Changing Ultimate in TeamfightsAmazing Skins

ConsZero MobilityWeak Against Ganks and Assassins if Stun is DownVery Reliant on Landing Good Ult for Full BurstOnly Engage is with Flash

Runes and Masteries

Runes and masteries are nothing special, mostly just taking all the AP Caster friendly masteries and then Thunderlord's as our keystone. For runes I normally take Flat AP Quints, Flat AP Glyphs, Armor Seals for laning phase, and a combination of Magic Penetration and Attack Damage Marks. You can go with some magic resist or cooldown reduction if you want at the cost of some early AP but this is a pretty standard rune page for mid lane Annie.

Item Explanations

I'm going to assume that you're not a complete rookie if you're reading this but if you are I apologize in advance as I will not be going into detail about what the items do really but rather how they work on Annie.

Rod of Ages
This item is pretty much a must-buy on Annie in 95% of games you'll play. You need the mana and the health because you're completely immobile so you can't be a glass cannon. You MUST buy it first if you're going to get it because it really needs time to stack. Overall its a great item that I recommend you buy in almost every game. I've played over 100 games with Annie in the past year and I've only gone without buying Rod of Ages maybe 5 times.

Luden's Echo
A definite goal for the early-mid game, this brings your burst to another level and gives you some much needed movement speed (hopefully you have boots already). The damage from the item itself (100AP) is pretty big and then the extra splash damage is huge when you land a great 2-3 man Tibbers stun. Another item I buy almost every game.

Rabadon's Deathcap Annie is an AP caster so of course you're going to build a rab cap. I usually like to grab it third unless I'm waaaay ahead in which case I'll get it second for tons of AP. This item takes Annie's burst to new levels and serves to keep paying dividends later into the game. I buy this every single game that I can because your burst is just incredible with it. An R-Q-W will completely blow away a squishy.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Morellonomicon
This is where some deviation is possible as you can grab a Rylai's or a Morello's depending on if you want a little bit more health and a nice slow on your spells or some much-needed CDR. Both items are very viable on Annie and you can even purchase both if you forgo a Void Staff and thus some magic penetration.

Boots:
You can either go CDR boots, magic penetration boots, or mobility but I normally grab the CDR boots and get Void Staff instead of Morellonomicon and just deal with the less CDR.

Gameplay

Okay so this is the important part ladies and gentlemen so listen carefully. Annie has two different functions as the game progresses.

For those of you who have never played Annie, your stun is the most important part of your kit. Your E (the shild) may appear to be useless but it is excellent on using to get a stack of your passive and get the stun ready for very little mana cost.

Laning Phase
Again, I'm going to assume you have already seen or read what each of Annie's skills does. In the early game, it is imperative that farm well with your Q. It gives you free farming and you can get stacks on your passive very quickly. Every time you reach four stacks and get your stun, you should be looking to use the stun-empowered Q on your opponent and then if you stun them, hit them with a W and an auto-attack and that will trigger your Thunderlord's and take out a third to half of their health.

Combo: Q(stun) - W - AA - Thunderlord's(automatically)

Once you poke them down sufficiently, you should look to go all-in for a kill. A basic part of being good at mid-lane is knowing when to trade and when to engage fully. You should only go all-in when your opponent's spells are on cooldown. For example, if you're facing an Ahri in lane and she uses and misses her Charm and Orb of Deception, you should immediately go on the counter-attack as long as you're not too low because there is very little she can do to retaliate until her spells come back off cooldown. Your all-in combo is using your ultimate when your stun is active because your ult deals damage per second in the area around it and it sets up an easy Q-W to finish them. If you hit all three spells you'll also trigger Thunderlord's for a little extra damage. You may have to flash to land the ult bit it is worth it if you get the kill. You have to execute the combo quickly because your opponent will try to dash or flash away as soon as the stun wears off.

All-in Lane Combo: R(stun) - Q - W - E(for protection).

Teamfighting
In teamfights your job is to catch two or more members of the enemy team in your ult stun and then try to blow up a carry as fast as possible. Your ult can be game-changing and can either save or throw games so use it wisely but don't be afraid to use it and end up dying too early before you can make an impact. The combo is the same as in a all-in lane combo but you'll have to use your flash most of the time to catch them off guard. You also HAVE TO go for a carry because using your combo on a tank is useless.

You HAVE TO use your flash aggressively most of the time so you can't be prudent with your use. Late game you should look to flash-engage whenever it is up if you don't have any other type of hard engage. Even in lane, a good flash-Tibbers will get an easy kill with very little counterplay.

Summary

Annie is a fantastic champion in my opinion and I hope you enjoy playing her as much as I do! I will continue to update this guide with more details, personal videos and statistics from my own games and any other tips I can think of. Please be sure to look at the constantly updated matchup list to see how to play against a certain champ when your opponent locks it in. Thank you very much and good luck on the rift!

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!